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Communication

Highlights from the October 15 Sales Effectiveness breakfast

by Paul Sparks on November 6, 2010

Over 70 people interested in learning the latest ideas, trends and innovation in professional selling and sales management joined me recently at Luna Park in Sydney for the fifth Sales Effectiveness breakfast event for 2010. 

As with the previous four, the feedback was fantastic – I hope to see you for the final breakfast in this series on November 15, 2010.  Till then, here are some highlights from October for you.

Yvonne Sum.  “Learning partnerships: practical sales leadership lessons from the home front” 

Dr Sum gave one of the most inspiring presentations in this year’s breakfast series.  Yvonne set the scene for her insights into leadership by talking about change and how we face a world of rapid and often unexpected change. 

One way to be an effective leader in this environment is to engage and build “learning partnerships”.  Put simply – this means that as leaders we need to partner with our team members – and to harness the power of mutual learning and support.   Leaders need to move from being judges – and become partners with their teams to build connection, knowledge and deliver effective action.

Yvonne outlined a simple – yet powerful – 3 part framework (ABC) to help us all do ordinary things well and in the process build extraordinary performance.  Here are the key words in this framework:

  • Authenticity
  • Be present
  • Communicate

If leaders embrace and action these things they will over time build a personal platform to allow learning partnerships to flourish. 

Find out more by ordering your copy of the DVD of the full presentation:

http://www.saleseffectiveness.com.au/sales-effectiveness-breakfast-event-series-october-2010/

You’ll find more information about Yvonne’s work here:

http://www.dryvonnesum.com/

Rob Salisbury.  “Building a successful personal identity and sales career: being CEO of YOU Pty Ltd”

Rob’s lively presentation emphasised the importance of understanding your personal strengths – and building upon them.  He gave some great examples of the characteristics of successful people – and the actions they’ve taken to ensure their success.  As well as mentioning well known business people and sporting stars – Rob also used less conventional examples, including Sarah Marie who had her period of celebrity following her appearance on “Big Brother”.

Rob then outlined a 6 part process to build your identity and sales career:

  1. Promote your personal strengths
  2. Market your unique skills
  3. Present your personal style
  4. Sell benefits to clients
  5. Deliver unprecedented value
  6. Position your expertise

Find out more by ordering your copy of the DVD of the full presentation:

http://www.saleseffectiveness.com.au/sales-effectiveness-breakfast-event-series-october-2010/

There’s more information about Rob Salisbury and his work here:

http://strategicresources.com.au/

Special Guest – Barbara Lichti (legal counsel) – “Legal pitfalls every sales professional needs to avoid” 

Continue Reading…

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Why all leading salespeople must become authors – and how you can start today

by Paul Sparks on October 2, 2010

How important are you for your clients to stay in touch with?

Why would potential clients want to meet you?

We know that professional selling is undertaking a major revolution in approach, application and execution.  We know that if you don’t bring extra value to the sales encounter – then you should expect to be treated like a commodity, and have buyers simply focus on your price once you’ve ticked the essential shopping list items.

At a recent event I hosted, sales researcher Neil Rackham stated that if salespeople can’t bring additional value to the negotiation table, then they’re wasting their time – and if they don’t change from walking brochures to sources of information, they’ll soon become redundant.

In this article, we’ll assume you know this.  Not only do you know this – but you’ve built a strong store of knowledge, expertise and experience which your clients (and potential clients) value.

Now what?

Write about it – and share your knowledge with the world. 

And you don’t need to be Shakespeare to write a good article, white paper – or even a book or book chapter which resonates with your audience.  Simply follow some simple tips, and you’ll end up with a good piece of work which will introduce you and your expertise to an eager audience.  After all, if you really do have the knowledge and experience to solve other people’s problems – they’ll want to know about it.

Why write?

It’s simple – written articles – especially those formally published – have credibility and add to the authority of the writer.

From our youngest years, we’ve been told that the library is the place to find information, learning and wisdom.  And especially in today’s digital world of way too much information, the published word is rightly assumed to carry more weight than the other 99% of stuff which is just on-line.

We also assume that if you’ve taken the time to write and publish, then you probably know a bit about your subject – and probably more than most.

Published material has been sifted – it points to material that others also think has value.

So – the reasons are simple.  Producing a published piece of work will give you these four things that all experts seek:

  • Credibility
  • Authority
  • A unique voice in a cluttered world
  • Wide reach

Plus lots more, including these:

  • People looking for speakers at events are more likely to consider you if you’re published
  • Journalists, bloggers, and anyone looking for an expert comment will be more likely – and able – to seek you out
  • It looks great on a CV or a submission
  • Other experts will look to connect with you

And – there’s that nice feeling of knowing you’ve done it!

Who should write?

Anyone who wants to build a credible, authoritative and authentic profile with others.

Do you have knowledge, expertise or experience in a field which could benefit others?

If so – you’re a good candidate to be published.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an employee of a large corporation, a partner in a small consultancy or an individual consultant, coach or trainer.  All that matters is that you have information of value – and want others to know that you’re an expert in a particular field. Continue Reading…

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Highlights from the May 14 Sales Effectiveness breakfast

by Paul Sparks on June 3, 2010

People interested in learning the latest ideas, trends and innovation in professional selling and sales management joined me recently at Luna Park in Sydney for the second Sales Effectiveness breakfast event for 2010.  The feedback was fantastic – I hope to see you in June.

Till then, here are some highlights from May for you.

Julia Palmer.  “Understanding the face to face revolution”

We’re all connected in this electronic world – but are we really connected to those who can help us achieve our personal and business goals?

 Julia’s presentation emphasised the importance of building our networks personally – and planning how, when, where and why we should be networking face to face.  Using a set of group activities we all discovered places and people we could connect with to build relationships to help us all achieve the outcomes we’re looking for.

And Julia finished with a warning – to be balanced in our approach to networking.  Less is usually more – so don’t try and win the business card collection race – instead, look to build quality connections through an authentic approach to building your relationship network.

And try to do as much as you can “face to face”.

Find out more by ordering your copy of the DVD of the full presentation:

http://www.saleseffectiveness.com.au/sales-effectiveness-breakfast-event-series-14-may-2010/

You can also find out more about Julia Palmer and her Business Networking Academy here:

http://www.businessnetworkingacademy.com.au/

Michael Foulds.  “Six coaching questions for improved negotiation outcomes”

Michael set the scene for discussing how to coach for better negotiation outcomes by firstly highlighting research which indicates that most of us have an over inflated view of our abilities as negotiators. 

He then addressed the three main barriers to coaching sales negotiations:

  1. An over focus on content – the what of the negotiation – as opposed to the process of negotiation
  2. We tend to have a narrow view of negotiation – and often think it’s the bit “we do at the end”, when the negotiation process should start much earlier in the sales cycle
  3. We often end up gaining vital information too late in the process – things we should have known much earlier

 Michael then used the following framework to discuss how to build questions to coach people to better negotiation outcomes:

  •  Introduce the negotiation landscape
  • determine who wants what – and why
  • look at where we go next (and where we don’t go) – and when
  • consider how to achieve this outcome
  • always think – so what?

Find out more by ordering your copy of the DVD of the full presentation:

http://www.saleseffectiveness.com.au/sales-effectiveness-breakfast-event-series-14-may-2010/

There’s more information about Michael Foulds and his company – ENS – here:

http://www.negotiate.org/ 

Ciaran McGuigan – “The World’s Best Sales Tips”

Ciaran spoke engagingly about some of the many tips contained in his book.  He highlighted the following simple – but critically important – point in selling:

“All things being equal, people buy from people they like.  And things being unequal – they still buy from people they like”

Many of us had heard this before – but it’s always worth being reminded about this truism.  Selling is the most personal of vocations – if we can be personable, authentic and genuinely interested in our clients’ world – we’re more than halfway there.

 Talking Point – “What will professional selling look like in 5 years?”

Our talking point for the month of May, was enthusiastically embraced by those in the room.  A number of trends impacting the world of professional selling were highlighted.  Two themes which were raised by a number of groups included the changing make-up of sales teams, and the impact of the growth of social networking. Continue Reading…

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Professional selling and the paradox of choice

by Paul Sparks 1 June 2010

You don’t need to have been in sales for long before you start running into situations where customers and clients keep deferring purchasing decisions.  Your argument may be compelling, and the evidence clear – but still no sale.  And you don’t lose the sale to a competitor – the customer simply doesn’t make a decision. [...]

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Highlights from the April 23 Sales Effectiveness breakfast

by Paul Sparks 31 May 2010

People interested in learning the latest ideas, trends and innovation in professional selling and sales management joined me recently at Luna Park in Sydney for the first Sales Effectiveness breakfast event for 2010. Here are some highlights for you. John Barraclough & Warwick Burgess.  “How to deliver effective sales presentations” A presentation can make or [...]

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Lessons for sales leaders from former President Bush

by Paul Sparks 22 November 2009

It’s now nearly 12 months since George W Bush handed the US presidential reigns to Barack Obama.  Views on the effectiveness of President Bush’s tenure are mixed – and we’re certainly not in a position to make an informed assessment of his presidency.  One person who is, though, is the veteran Washington Post reporter and [...]

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A $180M customer service fable

by Paul Sparks 4 October 2009

A couple of months ago, we featured a song by Canadian singer/songwriter Dave Carroll which he wrote out of frustration with United Airlines after he tried for 12 months to be compensated for the damage done to his guitar by United baggage handlers. The song was an internet sensation.  As of October 3, 2009, it [...]

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